Politics · United Kingdom · 4 hrs ago
Tories call for inquiry into Rachel Reeves’s meetings with City firms
The Conservatives have asked the ministerial standards adviser to investigate Rachel Reeves over reported meetings with City companies.
The former UK chancellor is said to have met two companies with her former adviser, Ben Nunn, in the fortnight before the Budget.
The discussions reportedly covered political advice they could offer, and the companies’ chief executives had met Reeves several times while she was in office.
Nunn has launched a political advisory firm, and he and Reeves are both subject to rules limiting former officials’ work with businesses.
Those rules aim to prevent people using privileged information or contacts gained in government for private gain, and both are barred from lobbying government for two years.
Conservative chairman Kevin Hollinrake has urged Reeves to explain the meetings and seek advice before taking private work.
No investigation outcome or response from Reeves is given.
Conservatives urged the independent ministerial standards adviser to investigate former Chancellor Rachel Reeves over meetings with two City companies.
The meetings, involving Reeves and her former adviser Ben Nunn, reportedly took place in the fortnight before the article’s publication.
Sources cited by the Daily Mail said the discussions concerned political advice the pair could offer and came shortly before the Budget.
Conservative chairman Kevin Hollinrake said former ministers must not use privileged information gained in office for others’ benefit.
The article said Reeves and Nunn are barred from lobbying the government for two years.
- Who
- Former Chancellor Rachel Reeves and her former adviser Ben Nunn. Conservative chairman Kevin Hollinrake called for an investigation.
- What
- The Conservatives urged an inquiry into meetings with two City companies over possible breaches of rules for former ministers and advisers.
- When
- The meetings reportedly took place in the fortnight before publication and shortly before the Budget.
- Where
- The meetings were with two City companies; their locations are not stated.
- Why
- The Conservatives said the meetings could raise concerns about use of privileged information and compliance with business appointment rules.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Ben Nunn was Reeves’s most senior adviser at the Treasury, before she was sacked by Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
Reeves and Nunn reportedly met representatives of two City companies.
The reported meetings took place shortly before the Budget.
- Companies
- Two City firms
- Former adviser
- Ben Nunn
- Consultancy
- Arlington Road Consultants
- Lobbying restriction
- Reeves and Nunn are barred from lobbying the government for two years
- Conservative chairman
- Kevin Hollinrake
What people are saying
Rachel Reeves must come clean and explain what she has been up to.
The Business Appointment Rules apply to every former minister.
They exist to stop precisely this kind of use of privileged information, and the perception that it is being used.
If Rachel Reeves has been meeting City firms with her former adviser to drum up business days before a Budget she spent months preparing, that would be a scandalous breach of very clear rules.